Long Beach developer plans medical complex at Douglas Park

LONG BEACH >> Developers plan to break ground today on two medical offices that will be built on the former Boeing-owned land known as Douglas Park.

The two buildings, set to total 90,000 square feet of space, are scheduled to be built on 5 acres of land that is being transformed from an aircraft manufacturing site into a commercial center where automaker Mercedes-Benz plans to establish its headquarters for business operations in the western United States.

Long Beach-based Urbana Development plans to develop the land, to be named Douglas Park Medical Office Park, with doctors groups that will own the planned three-story buildings. Long Beach Gastroenterology Associates and its affiliate, Greater Long Beach Endoscopy Center/Surgical Care Affiliates, are set to occupy one of the new medical offices.

Laser Skin Care Center Dermatology Associates is on pace to do business in the second building. The physicians groups are presently based in Long Beach, and the buildings have room to accommodate additional tenants, those involved in the development said.

“Long Beach doesn’t really have a new high quality surgery center,” Dr. David Drake of Long Beach Gastroenterology Associates said. “It’s a big enough place that it deserves to.”

Drake and the physicians at Laser Skin Care Center said they were attracted to Douglas Park, which is near Long beach Airport, in part because the area’s relatively easy access to the 405 Freeway makes an office there more convenient to patients living in other Los Angeles County cities or Orange County. Additionally, development plans call for free parking spaces.

Drake’s medical group plans to establish a primary care practice on the first floor of its building and employ the second floor for endoscopy and outpatient surgery. The exact nature of the surgical practice is subject to future planning.

Laser Skin Care Center Dermatology Associates may be best known for hosting “Erase the Past” tattoo removal clinics for former gang members and others who want to have their tattoos removed. The practice’s Dr. Edward Glassberg and Dr. Bryna Kane said they anticipate their move will allow them to expand the business, accommodate new medical technology and attract more doctors to the complex.

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“Our vision and our plan is to get like-minded physicians to partner and join together,” Kane said.

The Irvine-based real estate firm Sares-Regis Group owns nearly 200 acres of former Boeing land at Douglas Park. Urbana Development, in turn, became the first company to buy part of that land from Sares-Regis.

Urbana Development managing member Richard Lewis said plans for the medical complex have been in the works since April 2012. The project may be completed early next year, and Lewis expressed optimism that success would attract more developers.

“When you see such a quality development going in, it’s going to create enthusiasm,” he said.